Sermon Tone Analysis

People tend to avoid topics that make us feel uncomfortable.

Even if those topics are true.

I have noticed this pattern in the church as well.

God’s word consistently expresses the news that God is just.

Evil will not go unpunished.

And the Lord disciplines those he loves.

Even though we know that God loves us, talking about his discipline and justice can be awkward.

When have you seen a group of preschoolers talking about the benefits and divine purpose of time-out?

But if we will be disciplined in this life, and if God does use justice for good purposes in this world, then we would be wise to learn what those purposes are!

Zephaniah is going to be dead-honest about coming disasters for people who rejected God’s grace.

And as he unfolds the future for those nations, he uncovers for us the mysteries of God’s purpose in discipline.

Here are four reasons why God disciplines.

Restore what is Just

“A story which Christian apologists have told for years involves the French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778).

The story purports that Voltaire, in his voluminous writings against Christianity and the Bible, predicted in 1776, “One hundred years from my day, there will not be a Bible on earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity-seeker.”

As the story alleges, within fifty years after his death, in an ironic twist of Providence, the very house in which he once lived and wrote was used by the Evangelical Society of Geneva as a storehouse for Bibles and Gospel tracts and the printing presses he used to print his irreverent works was used to print Bibles.” - Crossexamined.org

Voltaire through baseless arguments and taunting sought to discredit the people of God.

Ironically, God used his home as a base for gospel ministry.

God will defend his own.

He will restore what is just.

And that is exactly what happens at the beginning of the passage.

4 For Gaza will be abandoned,

and Ashkelon will become a ruin.

Ashdod will be driven out at noon,

and Ekron will be uprooted.

5 Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast,

nation of the Cherethites!,

The word of the Lord is against you,

Canaan, land of the Philistines:

I will destroy you until there is no one left.

6 The seacoast will become pasturelands

with caves for shepherds and pens for sheep.

Through dramatic description God explains that the neighbors of the people are God were going to be completely destroyed.

So wiped out that their land was going to become unrecognizable.

Land and houses that once belonged to kings and the wealthy were going to become the possession of another.

Why?

7 The coastland will belong

to the remnant of the house of Judah;

they will find pasture there.

They will lie down in the evening

among the houses of Ashkelon,

for the Lord their God will return to them

and restore their fortunes.

8 I have heard the taunting of Moab

and the insults of the Ammonites,

who have taunted my people

and threatened their territory.

God will not allow for those who are genuinely following him to be mistreated forever.

He will come to their defense.

The foreign countries were proud towards God’s people.

They bullied them.

They looked down on them.

So God was going to turn their pride upside down.

He was going to give the land to those who followed God with faithfulness- the remnant.

No matter how corrupt society becomes God always keeps and protects a “remnant”.

A group of people who are good despite the evil that surrounds them.

Noah’s family survived the great flood.

David outlasted Saul’s house.

Daniel endured exile.

If you will trust and love God, you can be a part of his “remnant” no matter how bad things become around you.

Are your friends full of despair and hopelessness?

Through God’s power you can have hope.

Is your school full of evil prompted by selfishness and pride?

Through God’s spirit you can be selfless and humble.

Some of you are already living a counter-culture life of Christianity.

I want you to know that no matter how badly you are treated.

In the end, God will restore all things for your good.

God also disciplines to…

Starve what is Evil

One understated benefits of discipline is that it shows us what we are missing.

This in-turn gives us a desire to change so that we too might experience the freedom that comes when we do what is right.

I experienced this as a child in time-out during playground time.

The desire to share in the smiles and laughter of my friends was more motivating than any frown from my teachers.

Through discipline, God shows the rebellious that they are missing out.

In her awarding winning work, “Confronting Christianity” Rebecca Mclaughlin outlines some of the most basic blessing of belonging to faith, “Research suggests that those who regularly attend services are more optimistic, have lower rates of depression, are less likely to commit suicide, have a greater purpose in life, are less likely to divorce, and are more self-controlled.”

Through joy and goodness, evil becomes weak and unappealing.

This is God’s end-goal even when he is declaring justice.

Check it out...

9 Therefore, as I live—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies,

the God of Israel—

Moab will be like Sodom

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah:

a place overgrown with weeds,

a salt pit, and a perpetual wasteland.

The remnant of my people will plunder them;

the remainder of my nation will dispossess them.

10 This is what they get for their pride,

because they have taunted and acted arrogantly

against the people of the Lord of Armies.

11 The Lord will be terrifying to them

when he starves all the gods of the earth.

Then all the distant coasts and islands of the nations

will bow in worship to him,

each in its own place.

God is honest with the people that following false gods of their own creations will lead to ruin, waste, and decay.

Out of love, God wants to deliver people from these horrible results.

That is why he says that he will “starve the gods”.

In ancient cultures, and modern day, people would offer food offerings to idols.

But ultimately what strengthens the power of false gods is not the food on plates, but the devotion of hearts.

Pain in your friend group is fed by gossip and jealousy.